Summoning intelligence as psychological liberation in Plato

Republic VII

Bibliographic Data

ID21597658
AuthorsJohn D Proios (University of Chicago, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume33
Issue5
Pages977-998
Publication date2025-09-03
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal for the History of Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0960-8788 • E-ISSN: 1469-3526
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09608788.2025.2531209
OpenAlexW4413220055
LanguageEN
References cited27

This paper defends a novel reading of Socrates’ theory of psychological transformation at Republic 523a–524d (the ‘summoner’ or ‘finger' passage). The central problem is how the soul gains access to intelligible being. The paper first criticises two prominent scholarly approaches, which differ on the question of the extent to which intelligible being already structures sensible cognition. The paper then argues that the key to the passage is its dynamism: the soul gradually changes its conception of the world’s basic structure as the passage progresses. The soul confronts a contradictory sensory object and brings to bear an ontological scheme produced by sensation. But the result is still contradictory: one sensible body being two oppositely qualified things. Unlike sensation, intelligence can detach the qualities from sensible bodies and remove the pressure to identify two as one. The paper concludes by articulating advantages of this reading in relation to the cave. The overall upshot of the paper is a reconstruction of the philosophically interesting and novel account of the relationship between ontology and psychology in this part of Plato’s Republic

Epistemology · Liberation · Psychoanalysis · The Republic · Chemistry · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Philosophy · Psychology · Biochemistry

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